Enraged, Rin grinds out, "Shukaido!" Haruhiko moves to the roof
to plead with Rin to leave innocents out of it. If Rin wants to kill him,
then he'll accept it. But Rin has been pushed too far. "Nine
years," he declares, "My hatred for you gave me nothing but
suffering." And now, Rin trembles with an excess of emotion as he
faces the reincarnated Shukaido. "Good night, Shu." All Tamura
and Mikuro can see from below is energy crackling on the roof. Rin hasn't
had enough yet, though Haruhiko is badly Mikuro is also angry now, and tells
Rin they'll fight to the death if they have to. Rin is contemptuous of
this. He lashes out with a blast, but the Earth ESPer stands firm and returns
it. Suddenly, Rin realizes he is no match for Mikuro, just as the blast
hits him. Crying out, he disappears in the middle of the blast, which
explodes outward to engulf the temple.

Somewhere else now, Rin gasps in pain. He knows that teleporting as he did
only aggravated his injuries. If he tries it again, it may kill him. As
his consciousness fades, he screams, "I don't want to die!"

Shion's Past

Tracer fire and other projectiles fly into the night, revealing smoking
battlefields. A young Shion runs through wild grasses as tall as he is, his
only thought being, "I'm going to live!" He finds a cottage of
sorts and walks in. In the dark, he sees food and begins staggering toward
it. "Who's there?" A soldier, on edge, raises his gun. Another
soldier jumps to deflect his aim, shouting, "Wait! It's a kid!"
He is too late, and the first man fires. Watching the bullets approach,
Shion's fear swel Rin wakes in the hospital screaming. As his mother tries
to comfort him, he grabs her, yelling, "I'm scared! I'm scared!"
Alice walks in, concerned for him.

Shion falls to his knees in front of the rivulets of blood on the ground.
The first time he ever used his powers, and it was to kill people. He was no
better than the animals who tried to shoot him, he thinks. Some time later,
he is found by a local religious group.

Mrs. Kobayashi

Mrs. Kobayashi confides in Alice that Rin has been acting lonely recently,
since just before calling off the engagement. She tells Alice he had been
having bad dreams, but would never admit it. If she asked him, he only
pretended things were fine and tried to act adult, even with tears in his
eyes. Overcome with emotion, she excuses herself, offering to get some
watermelon for Alice to share. After Rin's mother leaves, Alice sits and
reflects. She's sure Rin would be much happier without his past memo Young
Shion is facing one of the liann (v: Orikasa Ai), one of the
sisters of the local church. She compliments him on having survived on his
own, but Shion is bitterly sarcastic. He questions how good he can be if he
killed people. Unable to answer him, the liann eventually sends him
to one of the elder women of her order.

Liann and Lazlo

The older liann greets Shion, inviting him to talk with her as an
equal. But first, she asks him to sit on one of the pews, so they can face
each other on an equal basis. He teleports himself onto his perch.
Momentarily startled, the liann recovers her wits and tells him,
"You have the blessing of Sahches." She explains that those who
are blessed by Sahjareem have special powers, either Sahches like him, or
the Keeches-Sahjaliann, those with powers and four red marks on their
foreheads. One day, someone new comes to talk to Shion. He introduces
himself as Lazlo (v: Arimoto Kinryu). He has been assigned by the
government to be Shion's veeda, sort of a foster father. He explains
that he sees it as a type of game and lists the types of things they would
do together. Shion complains that it sounds no different thatn living at the
convent, but Lazlo assures him he'll see the difference if he tries it.

Kyaa...!

Lazlo leads Shion down a path between fields of grain. He points to a house
at the end, "There it is." He informs Shion that he, Shion, and
Kyaa will live there together. Kyaa is his partner, he adds, as they walk
into the house. Looking all around, Shion doesn't notice the looming shadow
in front of him. "Let me introduce you," Lazlo offers. "His
name is--"

"KYAA!" Shion screams and jumps back at the
man-sized, bipedal cat. "Yes," Lazlo laughs, "That's what
everyone says when they first meet him."

In the following days, Shion gradually settles into life with Lazlo, though
not without some bumps. He tries to convince Lazlo to be scared of him.
After all, he says, "I've killed people, you know." Lazlo
maintains he's not scared with Kyaa around. When asked why not, he fibs,
"Because Kyaa feeds on Sahches power." Shion takes a sideways
glance at the giant cat, who likewise looks at him.

Shion's Fight

Even at Lazlo's, Shion manages to get in trouble. An irate woman is giving
Lazlo a dressing down while holding her son, whose wounds are covered with
bandages. She threatens that if anything similar happens again, she will
make sure his license as a veeda is revoked.

Later, Lazlo goes to look for Shion but is unable to find him. Finally, he
asks Kyaa, who motions for Shion to come out from behind him. Shion is sure
Lazlo would be mad, but he isn't. Lazlo carefully explains that they aren't
close enough yet to give him that right. He also knows the other boy had
picked on Shion for being a war orphan first. To convince Shion, he tells
him he will do something he's been wanting to since becoming a foster
father. He holds Shion close and kisses the boy on both cheek. Inexplicably,
Shion finds himself crying. Lazlo tells him it's probably because this is
the first time Shion has realized what he's been missing. He guesses that
Shion finally understands how lonely he has been all this time. "It's
a very human feeling," he tells Shion, then counsels him never to give
in, no matter how cheated he may feel. He wants his foster son to learn to
stop feeling miserable, and in return, each time Shion takes a step out of
misery, he will be rewarded with a kiss.

78 Days

Unfortunately, Lazlo and Kyaa are killed in an accident soon after. Feeling
the uselessness of it all, Shion rails that they only had 78 days together.
In the real world, Rin's dreams of the past cause him to weep in his sleep.
Alice sees his tears and, after consulting with the flowers, decides to sing
to him.

Present and Future

Shion is being led away from the house when he hears something. Ignoring the
liann's calls, he runs back. He can hear music as he dashes through
the rooms in the house. Opening a door, he looks into the light and spots
Lazlo and Kyaa. They mouth something and beckon him to join them. He runs
in, trips, and the vision vanishes as he hits the floor. He looks up at the
picture of Sahjareem on the wall and, suddenly, another image is superimposed
over it. He recognizes the person in it, though he The last of his visions
is of himself, holding a dying Mokulen. She tells him she finally
understands why he seemed so familiar. She knows now that they will all meet
again in the future, when they are reincarnated. Because of his, she asks
him to promise not to kill himself.

Summer

As summer approaches, life returns almost to normal. A number of separate
scenes impress themselves on the eyes: Jinpachi telling Alice that what's
important is the future; Sakura and Issei wondering why they were reincarnated,
and where Enju's love has gone; Tamura comforting Haruhiko; Rin's
convalescence and encounter with Mori-sensei; Alice seeing Mokulen in a
reflection; graduation. Alice fainting, and the suddeny unseasonal
blossoming of the cherry blossom trees; Alice's friends finding four red
marks on her forehead.

And finally, Rin's second grade report on what he did in the summer:
"Let's go to the beach, Alice," he urges. There, they can be
together. "It'll be so nostalgic. Now that it's ending,"
he concludes.